India Sends Troops to Stop Hindu March

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More than 150,000 paramilitary troops have been ordered to block Hindu nationalists from converging on the town of Ayodhya, where the marchers are demanding that a temple be built on a site now occupied by an Islamic shrine, a Government official said today.

The campaign for the construction of the Hindu temple at Ayodhya is led by officials of the Bharatiya Janata Party, whose parliamentary support has been vital in keeping Prime Minister V. P. Singh in power. When Lal Kishen Advani, the leader of the Hindu nationalist party, was arrested this week while leading a procession heading for the disputed site, the party withdrew its support. confronting Mr. Singh with a no-confidence vote that is likely to topple his Government.

The vote is now scheduled for Nov. 7, eight days after the Oct. 30 deadline that Mr. Advani and his followers have set for construction on the temple to begin. Though the marchers are still hundreds of miles away from the site, violent clashes between Hindus and Muslims have taken place in scattered parts of the country. Congress Party Opposes Singh

The Congress Party of former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi declared tonight that it would vote against Mr. Singh in the confidence test. But it said it would support a change of leadership in the Prime Minister's party so new nationwide elections could be avoided.

The tightened security cordon around the the mosque and in Uttar Pradesh state, where Ayodhya is situated, follows Hindu-Muslim clashes in the western city of Jaipur Wednesday and today in which more than 42 people were reported killed.

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A leader of Mr. Singh's Janata Dal Party accused Bharatiya Janata, its former ally, tonight of "inspiring and organizing the riots" at Jaipur, saying Muslims were singled out for attack.

A spokesman for the Home Affairs Ministry said that more than 200 battalions of Government forces, with about 800 men in each battalion, were being rushed to Uttar Pradesh. Reports reaching here indicated that Mr. Advani's detention appears to have reduced the momentum of the march, stalling its advance from the state of Bihar to Uttar Pradesh. Detained in Remote Village

The coach in which Mr Advani was riding at the head of the procession, a chariot-like vehicle known as a rath, was confiscated when he was arrested and taken to a remote village under tight security.

No nationally known leader has yet picked up the leadership of the campaign, and there are said to be only small groups of people heading for Ayodhya, about 750 miles southeast of here. The railways have canceled train service to the area, and private vehicles and Government buses are being stopped and searched. Pilgrims are also being frisked for weapons.

But officials of the Bharatiya Janata Party say they have instructed their followers to travel in small groups to Uttar Pradesh and slip into Ayodhya. The party officials said in interviews that more than 60,000 of their people have been held in Uttar Pradesh and neighboring areas by the local authorities seeking to thwart the pilgrimage.

A version of this article appears in print on October 26, 1990, on Page A00003 of the National edition with the headline: India Sends Troops to Stop Hindu March. Order Reprints|Today's Paper|Subscribe